The Brixton Immortals Domino Club formed in the 1970s, is a team and wider community social club playing

Dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

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. With ''Brixton Blog'' calling it "Brixton's most successful sport team", it is synonymous with the Brixton Domino Club building, now called the Lloyd Leon Community Centre (LLCC).

History

The club was founded in the 1970s by Lloyd Leon, , (who went on to become Lambeth's first Black mayor) with George Palmer and others from the Caribbean elder community. The first location was on Acre Lane, then later The Atlantic pub on

Coldharbour Lane Coldharbour Lane is a road in south London, England, that leads south-westwards from Camberwell to Brixton. The road is over long with a mixture of residential, business and retail buildings – the stretch of Coldharbour Lane near Brixton Ma ...

(where Leon was the then pub landlord) before settling at 297-299 Coldharbour Lane, which is now known as the Lloyd Leon Community Centre. Dominoes is widely played in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, so sits strongly in the identity of the London Caribbean diaspora. This leads to the club being frequented by the community's

Windrush Generation British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa. ...

and the wider

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

community. Local MP

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commended the club remarking upon the Dominoes game being "an important and fundamental part of the heritage of this area". Although first and foremost a team, the club also acts as a social space and has long been an informal support network and a self help institution. The 1990s saw the team play in the United Kingdom Domino League.

Lord Scarman Leslie George Scarman, Baron Scarman, (29 July 1911 – 8 December 2004) was an English judge and barrister who served as a Law Lord until his retirement in 1986. He was described as an "outstanding judicial figure, entrusted with the most hi ...

and Lambeth's mayor were among attendees at the 1990s finals held at

Lambeth Town Hall Lambeth Town Hall, also known as Brixton Town Hall, is a municipal building at the corner of Brixton Hill and Acre Lane, Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in ...

. The club now takes part in the Anglo Caribbean Dominoes League (ACDL), which it won in 2018. In 2019 the Immortals invited a USA team to the club to play against a UK team made up of players from local clubs. The current head of the club is Mervin Stewart and it is sponsored by the Victoria Credit Union in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Club activity and social events

The club has held dominoes meetings and tournaments at Lambeth Town Hall since the 1980s as well as

Windrush Square Windrush Square (often referred to by its original name, Brixton Oval) is an open public space in the centre of Brixton, South London, occupying an area in front of the Brixton Tate Library. After changing its name to Tate Gardens, it was again ...

in central

. It also regularly holds tournaments as part of Lambeth's Windrush Day celebrations, the borough's Black History Month celebrations, and Jamaica Independence Day. Events have been attended and supported by local politicians Bell Ribero-Addy,

and

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. In recent years the Ubele organisation has supported the club in building capacity and supporting its management, as well as future planning and refurbishment for the Lloyd Leon Community Centre. Other domino clubs in the London Borough of Lambeth include UK Diamonds ladies, Clapham Eagles, Clapham Dominoes Club, Myatt Field Park, Bradford, Crawford Foundation, Knight's Hill, The Golden Anchor and the Cosmopolitan Sports and Social Club. The UK Diamonds ladies have a crossover membership with the Immortals, share the same headquarters at the LLCC; they encourage women of all ages to get involved in what has traditionally been seen as a game more popular with men and elders in the community, rather than young women. The club does frequent outreach events at festivals and teaching

dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...

to young people at local schools.

Lloyd Leon Community Centre

The club operates out of the Lloyd Leon Community Centre (LLCC), a Grade II listed building at 297-299

. The building houses the domino clubs,

Brixton Soup Kitchen Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th centu ...

and

Lawyers In The Soup Kitchen A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

. The building, converted from two 19th century terrace houses, was opened as the Brixton Sports & Social Club and given to the local Black community following recommendations of the

Scarman report The Scarman report was commissioned by the UK Government following the 1981 Brixton riots. Lord Scarman was appointed by then Home Secretary William Whitelaw on 14 April 1981 (two days after the rioting ended) to hold the enquiry into the riot ...

after the 1981 Brixton Uprising. It was subsequently known as the Domino Club, being renamed the Lloyd Leon Community Centre after the Club's founder in recent years.{{fact, date=October 2022 As of 2022, the building is currently closed for repairs and refurbishment.

References

External links

Brixton Immortals website

Brixton Immortals on Twitter
Brixton Sport in the London Borough of Lambeth London Borough of Lambeth Dominoes